


Every breath you take

by Lakritzwolf



Category: The Hobbit (Jackson Movies)
Genre: Baby Durins, Childhood, Fluff, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-09
Updated: 2018-04-09
Packaged: 2019-04-20 19:46:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,016
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14268255
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lakritzwolf/pseuds/Lakritzwolf
Summary: My prize for mylittledragonhoard on tumblr for the WinterFRE 2018.Just some toothrotting FiKi fluff. Baby Durins galore.





	Every breath you take

Fili had been very, very puzzled throughout his mother’s early pregnancy, because he did not really believe there was a baby in her belly. His enquiries about how it had gotten there had been cause for great amusement among the grown-ups, but his questions had a certain logic to it, from a child’s point of view.

How else, after all, got things into bellies other than by eating them? He had been hard to convince that his mother had not, in fact, eaten his baby brother. That the baby was growing in there from a seed did little to calm Fili’s mind as he was then worried he might eat a baby seed by accident and would have a baby growing inside him too.

Dis had been almost suffocating with suppressed laughter and had been saved by her husband who had assured the boy that it worked only for women and then asked if he wanted to go fishing. That had distracted the boy sufficiently, but Dis hadn’t been able to stop laughing for a good long while.

The idea of a baby growing in her belly became less abstract the day that Fili felt the first nudge against his little hand. It went up for him at that moment that there was indeed someone, not something, growing in the swelling belly, and from that day on he kept talking to the inhabitant of that belly ever so often. And now that he was beginning to look forward to having a brother, just like Uncle Dwalin and Uncle Balin were, and Uncle Oin and Uncle Gloin, he was quickly running out of patience.

The baby would only be born in spring and it was only late fall! It would take forever and he would be old and grey like Uncle Balin!

The swelling belly and its restless inhabitant remained a source of endless fascination to Fili. He riddled his mother, his uncle and everyone else with questions about babies, and was dissatisfied with the evasive answers he got about baby seeds and where to find them, and how exactly the thing with the baby seeds and Amad’s belly worked.

For the midwinter festival Dis was so heavily pregnant that she could only waddle, and Fili took up the duty of always walking in front of her because he feared she might simply fall over. And if she did, Fili would be there to catch her. He was adamant about it.

He also spent a long time just sitting on his mother’s lap, as far as possible with the huge bump, or kneeling on the ground before her when she sat in the large comfy chair at the hearth, talking to his baby brother. He was utterly convinced it would be a brother and wouldn’t hear of the option it might be a sister. Not because he had anything against a sister, he actually said a sister would have been sweet, but no, it would be a brother.

Sometimes, when the baby was especially restless, Fili would sing Dis’ lullaby for him, and it actually calmed the baby down a bit. Fili was proud and proclaimed every time that he would be the best older brother ever and help his mother take care of the new baby.

Spring came, and Fili grew as impatient as Dis herself. She mentioned often enough that she was thoroughly done with waddling and not being able to reach her feet, and Fili used to ask her when the baby was ripe, but also how it would come out. The answer of ‘the way it came in’ was not what he wanted to hear but it was all the answer he got.

Fili was excited when Uncle Dwalin came to pick him up one evening as he and Thorin would stay the night at his and his brother’s quarters, and Fili spent the evening listening to bloody stories of war and battle glory in wide-eyed fascination.

But to discover the next morning after returning home that his baby brother had arrived!

Fili was sorely disappointed, though.

He was tiny. Really, really tiny. He was also kind of wrinkled and reddish and didn’t open his eyes. Not even Fili’s favourite toy mine cart could bring the baby to open his eyes, and Fili withdrew with a pout. How everyone fussed and cooed and crooned and hugged his mother, and all because of that pink little worm.

Yet he immediately changed his mind when his mother called him to her bed and he crawled into it and towards her side, looking at the tiny baby. The baby yawned, and Fili grinned. And then Dis put the baby into Fili’s arms.

“Fili, this is your baby brother, Kili. You have to take good care of him until he can take care of himself.”

And Kili opened his eyes to look at the one who held him, and Fili looked down at the tiny baby and into his strangely steel-coloured eyes, and didn’t want to give him back again until the baby got hungry and needed Dis’ breast.

Fili himself preferred to be led to the kitchen for honeyed bread. Milk that came out of someone was yucky. His father agreed with a grave nod.

Kili was a restless baby and often complaining, and had a hard time falling asleep. The problem was that the stubborn little thing wanted to suck his thumb, but because of the thumb being hidden in his fist due to a baby’s natural reflexes, he couldn’t get to it. A dummy made of cloth was resolutely refused, even after being soaked in slightly honeyed milk.

Dis was still getting tired very quickly, as her restless baby was giving her little time to rest or sleep.

Once Fili realised what the problem was, he spent a very long time standing at Kili’s crib showing him how to open a hand, and that you could slip your thumb into your mouth if you only managed to keep your fingers outstretched. Kili watched in wide-eyed fascination, but it had no effect.

During one of those nights when Kili simply refused, or remained unable, to sleep, Dis had a hard time getting out of bed, especially since she was sure Kili was neither wet nor hungry as he had been fed and changed less than an hour ago. Fili had not yet moved out of his mother’s bedroom and was not to be persuaded to do so now. He wanted to be near his baby brother.

So in that night the baby managed to wake him up too, and he shook his head and tried to teach another open-hand-and-slip-your-thumb-into-your-mouth lesson, but Kili was cranky and in no mood to be lectured.

Dis, tired and drained, tried to calm the baby with a lullaby, but Kili would have none of it. She fell back and looked at the ceiling, and then the crying paused, and stopped. She had no time to wonder as she immediately slipped back to sleep herself.

She awoke to morning light, to her utter amazement, and immediately worried, checked on her baby. Her heart flowed over with love when she looked into the crib.

Fili had climbed into the crib and was curled around his little baby brother, and had somehow managed to slip Kili’s thumb into his mouth, and had then positioned himself in a way so the hand and thumb would stay in place.

Both boys were still fast asleep, and Dis took the chance, after wiping her eyes, to help herself to a generous breakfast in peace.

* * *

Fili could and would not be separated from his little brother for any amount of time other than the strictly necessary. He carried him around, talked to him endlessly, explaining what he saw and who they met, and loved to play with him even if Kili could do nothing yet than watch with big, solemn eyes.

The mine carts being his favourite toy, Fili often built long tracks across the whole room, sometimes under furniture, and Kili was never far away. He couldn’t even crawl yet and was just learning to turn onto his belly, but Fili would always hand him one of the carts that Kili examined with fingers and mouth.

As a mother is wont to do when she can’t hear her children for a while Dis left the kitchen one afternoon to check if her son had concocted any mischief, but found, to her amazement, that Fili was just playing with his carts again.

 “Look, Amad!” He said. “Kili and I made a mine!”

Said mine track was nothing but a large oval, emerging from the cart shack and back again, and Kili was lying directly in the middle.

“Look!” Fili grinned up at her. “Kili can’t push a cart yet, but he can play with me!”

And he proceeded to drive the cart around his little brother who seemed a little puzzled but pleased he was included in the game.

Dis sighed and shook her head with a fond smile, and returned to her kitchen work, assured that her baby son was well taken care of.

* * *

It amazed Dis again and again how much patience her firstborn son displayed when dealing with his baby brother. Kili could do anything, and Fili would just shrug it off with a smile, even when Kili was chewing on Fili’s braids. It seemed to be one of his favourite things, and after a stern reminding of his mother, he made sure to always remove his beads when Kili was close.

Which was basically all the time so Dis had taken to securing Fili’s braids with bits of string.

And now Fili had decided to teach Kili to speak.

“It’s amad, Kee. Amad. Try!”

“Bwwwrrr.”

“No, amad. Aaah-maad”

“Bdab.”

“No, try again.” Fili pointed at his lips. “Aaah-maad.”

“Gleb,” Kili said and patted Fili’s face with a hand that was dripping with spit as he had been chewing on his fingers.

“I like you too,” Fili said and wiped his face with his sleeve. “Now try again. “Aaah-maad.”

“Mmmwwmm.”

Fili sat back with a sigh.

“Fili,” Dis said and looked up from her knitting. “It may be too early to teach him to speak.”

Fili frowned up at her. Then he looked back at Kili.

“Aaah-maad.”

Kili was busily chewing on his fist again.

“I think you should give up for now, givashel.”

Crossing his arms, Fili huffed out a frustrated sigh.

Kili dropped his fist again and gave Fili a four-toothed grin. “Bweee.”

Dis lifted both eyebrows and her knitting sank into her lap. Fili shuffled closer with widening eyes.

“Bweee,” Kili said again and reached out with both hands.

“Did you just say Fee?” Fili got up and lifted Kili by means of slinging both arms around him.

“Bweee!”

Fili spun his little brother around with a squeal of joy. “Amad, he said Fee!!”

“I heard,” Dis chuckled and shook her head. “It’s incredible.”

“Bweewee,” Kili said and Fili kissed his cheek, a big, hearty smack.

“Bweeweee,” Kili said again, visibly very self-satisfied.

“He said Fili!” Fili spun his little brother around and around, making him screech in delight. “He said Fili! He said Fili!!”

From then on, Bweewee was the first thing Kili said when pulling himself up in his crib in the morning, and Bweewee was one of the last things at night when he needed at least one more good-night kiss from his brother.

And Fili was telling everyone and their mother with a very smug and proud smile that his name had been the first word his little brother had ever said.

* * *

“Horsey, Fee!” Kili tugged at Fili’s tunic. “Horsey!”

Fili looked up from his slate where he was practising runes with a piece of chalk. “I need to finish this for Uncle Balin, and then we can play horsey, okay?”

“Horsey!” Kili said again, this time with a pout.

“In a moment!” Fili ruffled his little brother’s hair. “I need to do these runes.”

Kili withdrew under the table and proceeded to tug at Fili’s socks. Fili, versed and practised with his little brother, managed to focus well enough on his runes to make them look somewhat satisfactory, and as soon as he had done the last one he slid down from his chair to join Kili under the table.

“Ready! Now we can play horse!”

And down he went on all fours, and Kili climbed onto his back. He dug both hands into the fabric of Fili’s tunic, and Fili crawled, carefully and slowly, out from under the table while making snorting and whinnying noises.

“Horsey!” Kili squeaked. “Horsey!”

Fili whinnied again and dared to crawl a little faster. Kili had gotten the hang of holding on by now.

“Horse needs a break!” Fili dropped his head and emitted a sad snort.

“Horse, you need food!” Kili climbed down and held his cupped hands in front of Fili’s face.

Fili made some loud chewing noises, and when Kili ‘gave him water’, he also slurped and slobbered. Then Kili climbed back into the saddle and onwards they strode, across the hearth chamber and past the fire, towards Erebor to slay a dragon.

Once Erebor (the boys’ bedroom) was reached, Fili turned from horse into dwarf warrior, and the two proceeded to fight an imaginary dragon armed with wooden swords and shields, hollering at the top of their lungs. Once the fight was won Kili mounted his noble steed again and they headed back into the living room where Kili proudly presented the dragon’s head (a leather ball) to his uncle.

“Very well done,” Thorin said gravely as he inspected the dragonhead/ball, and nodded. “You are brave and strong warriors, my sister-sons. You will be a great help one day when we go and reclaim the Lonely Mountain.”

“Tell us!” Kili slid from Fili’s back and both dwarflings snuggled against Thorin’s legs.

“Yes, Uncle Thorin! Tell us again!”

Thorin lowered his pipe again with a fond little smile and looked into the fire.

“The day the dragon came was just another cold and windy autumn day,” he began, and the boys were instantly spirited away, listening to Thorin’s deep voice summoning tales of old.

And of course they would help slay the dragon, they assured him when the tale had ended, and of course he would be King of Erebor. Thorin patted their heads and smiled and thanked them, and sent them to the kitchen to get a treat from their mother.

After devouring sweetbread with honey the two returned to the hearth chamber and produced their dwarf warriors from their chest. They were carved from wood and painted, a gift from Bifur, and proceeded to fight fierce battles against orcs and goblins and dragons, while Thorin smoked his pipes and listened to the battle cries with a soft and slightly wistful smile.

* * *

Of course Fili had to take his brother down to the mines when Kili was a bit older, because the mines were the most exciting and interesting places in the whole mountain. The sound of pickaxes echoing through the caves and the rattling of the minecarts, together with the mining songs to which the pickaxes sounded out the rhythm, created an atmosphere right out of one of Uncle Thorin’s stories.

Fili explained things as best as he could, because he was still a child himself and didn’t know or understand everything, but he did understand that you had to keep away from the prospecting shafts because you never knew how deep they were. And you had to keep clear of the tracks of the mining carts too, and not get into the way of miners hauling rocks.

Side by side they stood on a balustrade, and watched how some twenty feet below, a couple of carts were loaded with hard-won ore. Several miners gathered around those pieces of rock, joined by those who had been digging them up, and an excited conversation started, accompanied with lots of gesturing.

“Gold,” Kili breathed. “They found gold, right?”

Fili nodded, as excited as his brother. “Come, we have to tell Amad and Uncle Thorin!”

The two spun around and ran back up the stairs, and along the tunnel leading to the upper quarters.

“Gold, Amad!” Fili yelled when they had reached the hallway leading to the door to their home.

“They found gold!” Kili yelled, even more excited as this had been his first visit to the mine, and they had found gold!

He didn’t quite watch where he was going, and suddenly he stumbled and lost his balance, and running in full speed, fell over and landed on his knees.

Fili stopped and spun around, but just as he was about to sigh in relief, Kili sat back and started to cry.

“Kee!” Fili was back at his brother’s side in an instant. “Kee, are you hurt?”

Kili pointed at his knees, tears running down his face. His trousers were torn and both his knees were bleeding.

“Oh no,” Fili said and put both arms around his brother’s shoulders. “It’s all right, it’ll stop hurting,” he muttered and kissed Kili’s hair. “You’ll be fine.”

“Ow!” Kili wailed. “Ooow!”

“Shh,” Fili muttered in his best imitation of his mother’s voice. “Come on, let’s go home. Amad will make it better.”

He helped Kili onto his feet, but frowned when his little brother whimpered and limped a few steps.

“Can’t walk,” Kili muttered miserably.

“Come on,” Fili said, stepped closer and turned around, his back to Kili. Then he went into a crouch. “I carry you.”

Kili climbed onto Fili’s back, and Fili straightened up again to give him a piggy-back ride home.

“Thank you,” Kili sniffled into his brother’s hair.

“I will always carry you when you can’t walk,” Fili said firmly. “Because that’s what older brothers do. They take care of their little brothers.”

After a few steps Fili began to walk a little faster, and skipped along the corridor while making snorting and whinnying noises.

Kili’s sniffles blended with giggles as he held on.


End file.
